A leisurely Memorial Day weekend

A few highlights from Memorial Day weekend...

Friday night I went out to help celebrate my friend Brandon's birthday. Unfortunately I had been under the weather and was reduced to raising a celebratory glass of ice water. Better in the long run though since I had a 30-minute drive home afterwards. Soccer did rear it's head of course as I was talking with another friend that evening about his 11-year old's team and soccer exploits.

The 11-year old was still playing with his local club this season, having turned down the chance to play with one of the bigger club's in Madison after making the cut at try-outs. He decided he wanted to play with his friends another year and think about trying out again the next time. Certainly the merits of small vs larger can be argued both ways but kudos to Mom and Dad for not pushing their son into something he didn't want just because it is "supposed" to be better/higher level/etc...

Saturday of course saw the USA come back to knock off Turkey 2-1. A much better performance by the Yanks and a game show by the Turkish, who were playing their third game in eight days. Bradley's charges were much sharper, the offensive flow in the second half was excellent, and the USA fans' collective mood has improved dramatically from Tuesday night.

Sunday saw a picnic lunch on the patio of a local brewery even with temps pushing the 90 degree mark. I also have a new favorite board game as we played a few rounds of Puerto Rico later that night. I had played one time before over the Christmas holiday when my brother and his wife were in town and am now officially hooked.

And then Monday came and (along with yard work) the Special One landed in Madrid. Jose Mourinho basically declared that he was going to take the job (even though it was not open), and Real Madrid, being who they are, obliged by bringing the biggest name in coaching to direct the biggest names in the game. I don't know a whole lot about much, but I do know one thing - this is going to be very, very fun to watch.

Final note - the contradictory headline of the day goes to Sky Sports with these two statements leading off an article:

Howard issues England warning

USA keeper not underestimating England ahead of World Cup

USA v Czech Republic

So I watched the game last night. Definitely a disappointing result overall tempered by a few positives. The most irritating thing to me though is all of the “oh well, the result doesn’t matter attitude” that was prevalent before the game even started and has continued into the post game analysis.

I actually felt like Lalas, Harkes, and company were justifying the performance before the game had even been played. Fringe players, individual performances more important than result, etc… Now, I get that this is a friendly and the result doesn’t count towards the World Cup. However any game, and I mean any game, that the United States plays is about the team. Sure, individual players have goals and things they need to show, but it just burns me that no one seemed to care that aside from the first 20-30 minutes of the game, the Czechs hammered us in a home game.

And leave off with the “fringe players”, B-squad nonsense. The Czechs were also missing almost all of their regular starters. And these guys are in the top 30 players in all of American soccer. The top tenth of a percent (random number as I have no idea how many adult soccer players are in the country). The crème de la crème. Do we really feel like it is ok if at numbers 12-30 on the depth chart we are outclassed? I guarantee they wouldn’t be in England.

Now, I’m not saying hit the panic button or anything. The talking heads are correct in that this is not the team that will be on the field when it counts. But for crying out loud have some pride. Don’t act like “it doesn’t matter” or “it was just the second string”.

We were trumpeting left and right last summer about our performance in the Confederations Cup and it was extremely irritating to read comments from other countries about how Spain didn’t take it seriously and it was “only” the Confederations Cup, not a major tournament. Now we want to take that stance?

I’m not advocating unrealistic expectations. We are a “high mid-major” country in the landscape of world soccer. For us to win the World Cup it will take a perfect storm similar to George Mason’s run to the Final Four a few years ago. And I’m not saying we have no business losing to the Czech’s last night.

But…it sucks that we lost, and it sucks how we lost. Don’t act like it doesn’t matter. It does matter and it’s insulting to the players out on the field to dismiss them out of hand like that. We should expect better from them, whether they are the second string or even the third string.

One last point on this, leading into 2006 the USA had a string of sub-par performances in the lead-up to the tournament including a 1-0 loss at home to Morocco(!). At the time we heard the same sort of comments from the talking heads and we all know how that tournament played out for the team.

Stepping off the soapbox and getting back to the game, here are a few of my high level observations.

Beasley – He looked sharp, was involved on both ends, and was drawing fouls like he did a few years back when he was in his best form. It appears his lack of consistent playing time with Rangers over the last few years hasn’t killed his chances of making an impact at the WC. Probably not a starter anymore but showed he deserves to go to South Africa.

Holden – Looked as good as he ever has in a USA uniform. He is fully recovered from the break he suffered against the Dutch. Stuart is positioning himself to get significant minutes in South Africa either off the bench or as a starter.

Gooch – Played 65 minutes and looked decent. Unfortunately decent isn’t going to cut it at the WC. He still has a few weeks to improve and two friendlies to show his stuff, but based on last night I don’t see how he gets the start on June 12th. Hopefully he can make the push because he is an integral part of the team and when healthy allows Bradley options with Bocanegra (read on).

Left Back – Oh man are we in trouble. Bornstein and Pearce have been “competing” for the left back spot for the last four years. And consistent with the results of that time, neither man made a strong case for himself last night. Our best bet at this point is either Bocanegra or Spector who would both could be used to better effect elsewhere.

The forwards – Ching seems recovered from his injury, contributing his usual game last night, so he will go. Gomez scored a goal and hustled. Buddle contributed to the first goal, earning the foul and helping to disrupt the keeper on the ensuing free kick. He also showed a lot of hustle and “want to”. Gomez offers the “super-sub” aspect which would be useful as neither of them will be starting barring injuries to others. Buddle offers the partnership with Donovan that has developed playing together in LA. Probably only one of these guys goes, your guess is as good as mine (which is Gomez incidentally).

Cheers, by the time you read this roster decisions will have been made and we’ll be down to the final 23.

World Cup Rosters Announced

Along with 31 other countries the United States announced their preliminary 30-man roster for the upcoming World Cup (it will be whittled down to the final 23 by early June). Perhaps most interesting about the US list is the complete lack of drama as compared to some other higher profile countries. Sure, there is the whole Charlie Davie's question...

On the process that ultimately led to the decision not to include Charlie Davies:

“Charlie has shown incredible heart and determination to reach this point in his recovery. We have followed his progress extensively during the past several months through physical examinations and personal observation by our staff, and he remained in consideration for this training camp until yesterday. FC Sochaux notified us that at this point Charlie has not been given medical clearance, and that they would not grant his full release to join the camp. Given that status and our own evaluation of his progress, we feel it is Charlie’s best interest to continue his rehabilitation and focus on getting fully prepared to resume his professional and international career.”

..but the sticking point on that seems to be more about how FC Sochaux didn't keep Davies in the loop, notifying the USA of his status without telling him.

Compare that to the host of names that didn't make the cut for other nations: Patrick Viera, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Ronaldinho (!!!!), Adriano, the list goes on. I guess the lesson here for me is that the USA has some great talent at the top of the chain, the depth still can not compete with the major soccer (football) nations around the world.

In other news, Clint Dempsey played the final 60+ minutes for Fulham in the Europa League final on Wednesday. He played well, however the hero on the night was Athletico's Diego Forlan who notched two goals including the winner in the 116th minute.

New job, less soccer watching this past week or so

So I started a new job this past week (yeah!) and that basically means I have spent about five minutes paying attention to soccer. Hopefully things settle down a bit and I can get in rather quickly.

All eyes in Sevilla today as Barcelona attempts to secure the La Liga title. A slip-up though and Madrid is waiting, just a point behind heading into the last two games (edit).